Recently, some users on TikTok have begun gushing about hyaluronic acid for another reason: its purported ability to transform hair from dry and brittle to healthy and lustrous.

 Starting out with damaged-looking locks, she explains that she wet her hair and applied a hyaluronic acid product, The Ordinary’s Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5, nightly. After one night, her hair looks noticeably healthier, and after two nights, she notes a “major difference.” At the two-week mark, she claims her hair to be “way more manageable,” revealing that even her hairstylist asked what products she had been using.

A physician at Campbell University in Buies Creek, North Carolina, and social influencer who goes by “Derm Doctor” on TikTok, endorsed Boyer’s claims in a viral video that has more than 10 million views. “Hyaluronic acid is a powerful humectant, meaning it holds onto about 1,000 times its weight in water,” he said, calling it “an amazing moisturizer for hair and skin.”

Should you be using hyaluronic acid in your hair, too? Here’s what experts want you to know.

How Does Hyaluronic Acid Serum Work?

New York City–based Daniel Belkin MD, a board-certified dermatologist and dermatologic surgeon at New York Dermatology Group, echoes Dr. Shah, saying that a hyaluronic acid molecule can bind up to 1,000 times its weight in water, “so it is a very powerful humectant — a molecule that draws in or retains hydration.”

Board-certified dermatologist Joshua Zeichner, MD, associate professor and director of cosmetic and clinical research department of dermatology at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, says hyaluronic acid is a staple in skin care, but he’s seen it increasingly used in hair-care products lately.

Is the Effect of Hyaluronic Acid the Same on Hair As It Is on Skin?

Each hair strand consists of layered proteins including keratin filament, as well as structural components such as matrix macrofibril, cortex, and finally cuticle scales, which are organized in a row, says Ava Shamban, MD, a board-certified dermatologist based in Los Angeles.

Healthy, vibrant, and shiny hair strands have smooth, flat cuticles and moisture is sealed in, Dr. Shamban says. On the other hand, in the case of damaged or dull-looking stands, the hair shaft is dehydrated and the overlying scales are elevated, giving hair a brittle texture. Hair is porous, and overwashing, frequent heat application such as from blow-drying, and environmental factors can cause damage.

When applied to the hair, hyaluronic acid “attracts moisture from the environment and pulls it into the hair, holding onto it — like water soaking into a sponge, it expands,” Shamban explains. “It fights frizzing, and helps to retain and maintain the proper balance of moisture proteins and lipids needed for healthy hair.”

Dr. Zeichner agrees that there are multiple benefits of adding the serum to your locks. “It can help soften, hydrate, and plump the hair shaft itself,” he says. “This means softer-, fuller-appearing hair.”

And, because it is already established as a great skin-care ingredient, hyaluronic acid is also great for the scalp, Shamban points out. “Often we don’t treat the scalp as dermis, but it is skin,” she says. The biggest difference between the scalp and the rest of our skin is that the scalp has thousands of terminal hair follicles, which grow hair strands. The scalp also has a greater sebaceous network than the rest of the skin. Shamban says this network is similar to a subway system in function with passageways to deliver and deposit oil, which is used for skin nutrition to coat, moisturize, soften, and protect.

Los Angeles-based celebrity hair colorist Tracey Cunningham explains that she is seeing a “skinification of hair,” which includes using skin-care ingredients like hyaluronic acid in hair-care products. “Finally, clients are starting to realize that they need to treat their hair similar to their skin for optimum hair health, especially if you color or use any chemical services or hot tools regularly,” she explains. In addition to hyaluronic acid, ceramides and glycerin are being added to hair-care products to deeply repair and moisturize strands, she notes.

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1. Persistently Rubbing Your Eyes Can Cause Dark Circles and Fine Lines

Under-eye bags are part of the natural ageing process, and occur when muscles around the eyes weaken. For most people, rubbing the eyes isn’t a problem and won’t cause any permanent side effects.

But continuous eye rubbing can create an issue by increasing inflammation in the area. There’s even a name for these bags and wrinkles: Dennie-Morgan lines, which can look almost like a black eye.

That’s not all. Pulling, tugging, and rubbing on delicate skin around the eyes can cause darkness.

2. Not Getting Enough Sleep Disrupts Skin Renewal

Sleep is essential for energy, concentration — and complexion. At night, skin goes into a renewal state.

Skimping on sleep can show on your face over time. Poor sleep (defined as five hours or less) is linked to increased signs of ageing, poorer skin barrier function, and lower satisfaction with appearance.

3. Sipping Out of a Straw Can Cause Fine Lines

Do you drink dark sodas, tea, and coffee through a straw? It may help prevent staining your pearly whites, but it can cause fine lines around your mouth, which is a sign of skin ageing.

When you’re sipping out of a straw, you’re activating the muscles around the lips: The more we activate those muscles, the more likely we are to get that crease in the skin. It’s the same reason that smokers also develop wrinkles around the mouth. Those lines can be traced to repetitive lip pursing.

4. Stress Releases Cortisol, Causing Collagen Breakdown

Every part of our body is affected by our stress, including your skin.

If you’re chronically worried (or losing sleep over stress), your body is pumping out stress hormones nonstop, which can cause premature ageing. Cortisol, the major stress hormone, breaks down collagen, which leads to sagging skin and wrinkles and causes inflammation. And chronic stress can speed up the ageing process because of that increased inflammation, research has shown.

5. Relying on Makeup for Sunscreen Leaves Skin Unprotected

To protect the skin from premature ageing, SPF is king. One past study found that ultraviolet (UV) light exposure was responsible for 80 percent of visible facial ageing signs, including wrinkles and pigmentation changes.

But if you’re relying on makeup containing SPF to block harmful UV rays, you may not be sufficiently protecting your skin. Most makeup protects against UVB rays but doesn’t block UVA rays, which cause fine lines, brown spots, enlarged pores, and crepey-ness.

Plus, you’d need to slather on a lot of cosmetics to get the sunscreen benefit. Makeup will give added protection along with SPF, but alone it is probably not enough.

6. Ignoring Your Neck and Hands Can Cause UV Damage

Ultraviolet light is the single most preventable risk factor for ageing. But even the most diligent SPF users may neglect their neck and hands, which may be why they’re one of the first areas to give away your age. Indeed, previous research found that women whose hands had visible veins and wrinkles were perceived to be older than peers with plumper hands.

As we age, we lose some elasticity.  Moreover, the hands lose volume and fat, which is how you end up with translucent skin with wrinkles and age spots.Your skin gets thinner, basically, so then your hands don’t look as full. You start to see the tendons a little more, you start to see the vessels, and they look more wrinkly.

The neck can become discoloured and older-looking as well, usually as a result of long-term sun exposure.

7. Forgetting Sunglasses Can Damage the Eyes and Surrounding Skin

Sunglasses protect the eyes from UV rays, which can harm the eyelid, cornea, lens, and retina (and, as previously noted, UV rays can damage the delicate skin around the eyes, too).

Repetitive movements like squinting, laughing, and frowning etch lines and wrinkles into your face over the long term. The more you activate your muscles in a facial expression, the more you’ll start to see creases when your face is at rest.

8. Using Drying Soap Can Accentuate Wrinkles

Your grandparents may swear by the simple cleanser, but bars of soap often contain harsh detergents that strip skin of natural oils. Though dry skin doesn’t directly cause wrinkles, it makes them more noticeable. And dry skin [can’t] protect itself from allergens and irritants like bacteria and viruses.

Your choice of soap is especially important if your skin is on the sensitive side. If you’re a person with sensitive skin or have eczema or rosacea, then yes, the soap you use is going to have an effect.

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